Cooling tower



Feb. 3, 1953 asuvloNs ,6 9

COOLING TOWER Filed March 22, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

EDWAR D Si MOMS B ATTORNEYS.

E. SIMONS COOLING TOWER Feb. 3, 1953 Filed March 22, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet2 Y INVENTOR.

EDWARD smous ATToRuE'Ys.

E. SIMONS Feb. 3, 1953 COOLING TOWER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 22,1948 INVENTOR.

ED'WARD SKMONS AT TORMEY S.

heat transfer liquid surfaces.

Patented Feb. 3, 1953 U TED STATE TENT orFicE 2,627,396 coormq TOWEREdward Simone, San Francisco, Calif. {\pplicationMarch 22, 1948, SerialNo. 16,269

(01. zen-109) .5 .Claims. 1

This invention relates to cooling towers and has for one of its objectsthe provision of a cooling tower that is more efficient than heretoforeand that is easier to construct.

Another of the objects is the provision of cooling tower construction inwhich relatively thin slat sections may be used thereby producing a veryhigh yield of surface per .unit .of lumber;

A still further object of the invention is the provision of mat orpacking structure in a cooling tower whereby substantially greater heattransfer efficiency occurs than heretofore, thus enabling a considerablereduction .in' the size or height of cooling towers without sacrifice inthe ultimate results heretofore accomplished ,by use of higher towers ofconventional structure.

Another object of the inventionis the provision of a coolingtoweradapted to ,be ,packedwith mats from, outside thetowerthuseliminating the weight and strength that heretofore ,has, ofnecessity, been built intothe mats for the sole purpose of enabling themats to bear the weigh-tof workmen within the .towerand onthe mats asthe latter are .laidor installed.

A still further object of the invention is the.

provision ofmats that .are moreeconomieal to assemble from slatsor thelike, and which mats do not require expensive frames, or extensivenailing, but are quickly madeup and are relatively light inweight yetstrong.

In cooling towers, the heattransfer surfaces are in banks, each bankbeing a horizontal row of slats or the like that providethesurfaceelements having guiding surfaces ,thatgenerate the The governing factorin computation of .thegfilm vcoeflicient is the circumference of thesurface element. As air flows over a surface,,an insulating stagnantlayer of air is built up. The .shorterthe surface, the less will be theaverage thickness of such layer and the greaterwillbethe filmconductance for heat transferto the air.

In staggered surface arrangements, as in a cooling tower, thecontrolling factor is the circumferenceof the crossv sectionjof theslats nor mall to air flow, and not the shape of the exposed surface,except so far asthe shapes of the surface elements are formed. to.minimize resistance to air flow.

With the present inventionthesurface elements are designed and arrangedto produce the maximum desired results and in a more economical manner.than heretofore.

An added object is the provision of .an induced draft cooling tower.havingapair ottiers of mats l .2 i and in which tower wind from any sidethereof cannot flow horizontally directly through the tower of anyportion thereof but air from opposite sides may mingle within both ofthe pair of tiers.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and in thedrawings, such as the elimination .of metal such as nails or bolts inthoseplaceswhere collapse, distortion or danger would result from themetal elements disappearing from rust or corrosion.

'In the drawings,

Fig. .1 is a part sectional part elevational View of .a coolingtowerillustrating the invention in aninduced draft type of tower, the path oftravel of the air under certain circumstances being indicated by arrows.Fig. 2 is aperspective view of one of the mats separate fromthe tower.The spacing between the slats isexaggerted for purpose of clarity inshowing therodsand bars extending through the slats.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical sectional view taken through apair of adjacent mats, and two .of theopposed sidewalls of thetowerbetweenwhich said mats extend.

Fig. 4 is an "enlarged fragmentary sectional view takenalong line 4',4Of'Fig. 3.

Fi 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken long iline d- -ijof Fig.3.

,Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through several sets of asuperposed pair of mats insection, showing packing or mats in which eachismadeup of relativelysmall surface elements secured on bars, Withjhebars supported attheirendsfor horizontal movement into the tower.

.In detail, the,towerillustratedinFig. 1 is a tower of, theinducedmdraft type, being rectangular and having four. imperforatesidewalls I, 2, 3, 4' in which" wallsl, ,3 are in opposed relation, andwalls. .2, 4 arein opposed relation.

The walls. I, 3 of the tower may extend to the ground, while. the,walls..2.p 4 terminate, above the ground, providing inlets- 5, .8.below walls. 2,35 respectively. Across each of these inlets is avertical grill 1 made up of a vertical row of vertically spacedgenerally horizontally disposed strips 8, which may be similar to oridentical with those shown in my United states Letters Patent No.2,437,484 for a Cooling Tower, dated March 9, 1948, or the strips may beplain and rectangular as shown in Fig. 1. The tower walls are generallythe same as in said patent, and one or more fans 9 may be positionedwithin the upper end of the tower for inducing a flow of air into thetower through inlets 5, 6 and upwardly through the packing that is inthe tower and out of the upper end through the opening in the top wallin which the fan is positioned.

The numerals I to t inclusive are used to designate the inner sheathingof the tower that is secured to horizontal frame members i2 extendingbetween corner posts l3 that are at the four corners of the tower.

In the present instance, as in the disclosure shown in the abovementioned patent, two tiers of mats or packing are shown within thetower between the inlets at the lower end thereof and the fan. One tieris adjacent wall 2 and the other tier is adjacent wall 4. Center postsid along walls I, 3 and centrally between the corner posts I3 at theends of walls 2, 4 may space the tiers apart, while beams at the lowerends of the corner posts and at the opposed sides of the adjacent pairsof posts [4 support said tiers.

Any suitable perforated pipes ll, above the said tiers, may supply waterto the packing of each of said tiers under pressure for striking splashstrips [8 and for subsequent falling in droplets through the packed areaand into the reservoir l9 that is below the tiers.

Drift eliminators extend between pipes i! and the walls, and arehorizontal and in the same plane as said pipes. By positioning the drifteliminators in this position the height of the tower is reduced.Heretofore it has been customary to place the drift eliminators abovethe spray pipes.

The resistance to flow of air past the drift eliminators is such that areduced pressure is in the chamber in the upper end of the tower betweenthe drift eliminators and the top of the tower thus efiectively causinga substantially uniform upflow of air through the packing andsubstantially counteracting the normal tendency of the air to be drawnthrough the packing along lines extending directly to the fan.

Each of the mats in the packing that makes up each of said tierscomprises a horizontal row of horizontally elongated, verticallydisposed slats (Fig. 2). The cross sectional contour of each of saidslats, and substantially the preferred proportion of vertical width tomaximum thickness, is best indicated in Fig. 3. For example, the maximumthickness of each slat in a uniform width zone 26 extending from end toend of each slat centrally between the upper and lower edges thereof maybe about inches, with the maximum vertical width of each slat may besubstantially 3% inches. The spacing between adjacent pairs of slats ineach row is preferably about 1% inches from the centers of the slats ofeach such pair. The vertical width of the central portion or zone 26 ofeach slat is preferably about one-third the total width and the portions21, 28 that are respectively above and below the central portion 26 areof uniformly decreasing thickness from said central portion to the upperand lower edges of the slat respectively, the thickness of said slat atsaid upper and lower edges being preferably about one-fourth the maximumthickness of said central portion. It is preferable that the upper edgeof each slat be substantially flat so as to provide a, splash surface.The lower edge of each slat could be sharp or rounded, if desired, butlittle, if anything, would be gained thereby. With the present structurethe manufacturing is simple and it is immaterial which edges of theslats are uppermost.

The slats 25 are supported in a row in properly spaced relationship onbars 29 that may be equal- 1y spaced from the corresponding ends of theslats in each row. These bars 29 may be of wood or any other suitablematerial and project at their opposite ends from the end slats in therow. One of the projecting ends 30 of said bars project from the endslat adjacent thereto farther from said end slat than the opposite ends3| project from the opposite end slat, by a distance substantially equalto one-half the distance between the adjacent slats in said row. Thereason for this is that upon superposing each of the mats with the bars29 parallel, the ends of the bars at opposite sides of the tier may becoplanar and yet the slats of adjacent pairs of mats will be instaggered relationship as seen in Fig. 3.

The slats 25 may be a driving fit on the bars 29 and transverse pins 32may extend into each of the bars 29 adjacent and in substantialengagement with the oppositely outwardly facing sides of the end slatsin the row. When the slats are so fitted on the bars 29, the pins 32could be eliminated.

The preferred structure employs locking antiwarp rods 33 that are ofconsiderably smaller diameter than bars 29, which rods are equallyspaced inwardly from bars 29. The slats 25 are formed with alignedopenings, and the rods 33 have a driving or press fit in these openings,holding the slats properly and uniformly spaced apart and stationary onsaid rods. The openings for bars 29 are slightly larger than the outsidediameter of the bars, thus enabling the assembly of slats on rods 33 tobe quickly supported on-bars 29. In this instance the pins 32, which maybe of wood function to hold the assembly of slats properly positioned onthe bars with the ends 30 projecting a greater distance at one end ofeach row than the opposite end portion 3!, as has already beenexplained.

Pins 32 may be of metal if desired for the reason that they mainlyfunction to hold the slats against relative displacement on the rodsduring the actual installation step. Thereafter they may ultimatelydisappear and the slats will remain fixed at that time.

Against the opposed side walls I, 3 are secured vertically extendingpairs of strips 34, 35. The strips of each pair are horizontally spacedapart to provide opposedly opening pairs of vertically extending groovesor channels (Fig. 4) on said walls. Strips 34, 35 are also formed withspaced lips or portions 35 that. overhang the channels 31 adjacent theiroutwardly opening sides providing a verticalslot 38 between the adjacentsides of said portions 33 through which the ends of bars 29 are adaptedto extend.

The channels 37 provided for by said strips 34, 35 are positioned sothat there is a space between the tiers that is substantially equal tothe thickness of vertical center posts M.

In packing the tower, the operator may first drop blocks 39 into thegrooves or channels 31, which blocks will fall by gravity to the bottomsweight of the latter. stalled the drift eliminatorsio may then beseacetate of said channels and in this position will rest on beams 15.The upper sides of blocks 39 may be semi cylinclrically recessed as at'40. The depth of each such recess may be about half the thickness ofthe exposed ends or bars after the lowermost blocks are at the lowerends of channels 31. Corresponding spacer blocks are placed within thechannels, their opposite upper and lower sides being recessed as at 40for the ends of the bars 29. As the depths of the recesses 40 may besubstantially half the thickness of the exposed projecting ends 30, 3|of bars 29, the weight of the upper mats not transmitted to said ends ofthe bars of the lower mats.

Mats are alternately placed in the tower with blocks 39 before the fan,itsfsupport, the upper end of the tower, and such other elements as 'areabove the mats or packing, are in place until each tier of mats is 'atthe desired height, and said mats may be suspended from rope grasped byworkmen at the top of the tower and lowered into the tower by saidworkmen from above for movement by gravity into the tower while sosuspended. In this way workmen need not be within the tower and on themats hence no strength need be built into each mat, as heretoforerequired, in order to support the weight of workmen. The blocks 39 willfall by gravity in the channels 31 to their required positions as themats are laid, and even iftheblo'cks were to split, they cannot get outof the channels and would perform their required and expected functionsof spacing the mats and of carrying the After the mats are in curedbetween the sides I, 3 and 2, 4 and the fan 9 installed.

It is pertinent to note that the mats are positioned in each tier withinthe tower so that the short and long projecting ends 'of the bars 29alternate in the channels, whereby the slats of adjacent pairs of matsare in staggered relationship.

The thickness 01 blocks 39 is such that the lower portions 2'8 of theupper matof each adj acent pair will overlap the upper portions 21 of.

the lower mat of each pair with the opposed sides of the overlappedportions inequally spaced parallel opposed relationship. Thus theresistance to the flow of airthrough the packing is minimized and isrelatively slight.

In Fig. 6 the slats 42 are merely reduced in thickness along their upperand lower edges, as by bevelling the corners of the slats along theirupper and lower edges. When this is done, the slats do not overlap, butthe spacers between mats are suiliciently long to support the adjacentmats with the adjacent edges of the slats thereof coplanar.

The proportions of the slats with respect to their maximum thickness,spacing, and vertical width, will preferably remain the same as with0.33 inch of water gauge, or more thandouble.

In Fig. 8 "the slats 44 have both their u per and sides of the latter,they do .not overlap.

lower edges rounded. Otherwise the arrangement of slats and mats is thesame as in Fig. '7. If the upper edges of the slats were brought to aknife edge, the undesirable result would be that the dropping waterwould tend to become distributed on one side or the other of therespective slats instead of there being a uniform distribution.

As a modification of the structure described above, horizontallyextending opposedly opening channel members 45 may be secured againsttwo opposed walls or the tower, and the projecting ends of the bars that"carry the slats may be disks "of one heat are staggered relative to thedisks of the adjacent mat, and the adjacent edges of the disks ofadjacent mats are coplanar. By this structure the disks may be quitethin, and when the rows of disks of each mat are relatively closetogether as seen in Fig. 9, the disks cannot rotate on the axes of thesupporting bars 41 to any appreciable extent, but will be held withtheir upper and lower edges substantially horizontal. These disks couldobviously overlap the same. as the slats of Fig. 2, if tapered ingenerally the same manner.

While only a pair of tiers are shown in the tower of Fig. 1, there maybe three, four, six, eight, twelve, etc. tiers in each tower, and it isimmaterial which direction the slats extend with respect to the inlets.In certain instances a fan may be provided for each tier, while in otherinstances a larger fan may serve as many as siX tiers arranged in tworows of three each.

Between inlets -5, 6 is a vertical partition 50 that preventsatmospheric air from blowing straight throughthe lower end of the tower,and yet air drawn through both -or either of the inlets will passthrough the mats of both tiers of adjacent pairs thereof irrespective ofthe direction in which the slats extend. Thus the fact that more air mayenter one inlet than the other has little effect upon the distributionof air in the tower since the air entering either inlet will besubstantially uniformly distributed through the mats in being drawnupwardly to the chamber above the drift lel-iminators.

When more than two tiers of mats are :a tower, such as three, these areusually in a single row with the inlets along the long sides of the row.Where :four tiers are used they are in two rows of two *each, forming arectangular assembly, and the inlets are along the two longer sides,although the four sides are almost equal in width; where twelve tiersare used, they are usually in three rows of four each with the inletsalong the long sides longitudinally of the rows of four. The partitionsare always midway between the inlets.

In the modifications shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, the slats are of the .samemaximum thickness, width and spacing as those of Figs. 1 to 6, butinasmuch as they do not have the full beveled The rounding or bevelingalong both the upper and lower edges of "the slats .is preferable to.restricting the same to the lower edges only, but, as alreadyexplained, the mere rounding of the lower edges only results inareduction of about one-half in the resistance to air flow.

It is tobe noted that the tapered or wedged shape of portions 21, Fig. 3and Fig. 6, acts to produce easy elbow bends of very slight resistanceto air flow. Such easy elbow bends produce shock losses which are muchless than those which develop with abrupt expansion and contraction ofthe air flow.

I claim:

1. In a cooling tower, a horizontal mat comprising a horizontal row ofspaced relatively thin vertically disposed horizontally extending slatsformed with horizontally aligned openings, a bar extending through saidopenings for supporting said slats within a cooling tower, each of saidslats being of progressively increasing thickness from its upper andlower edges in direction toward the center, a second mat having asimilarly disposed row of similar slats in similar arrangement disposedabove said first mentioned row with the lower marginal portions of theslats of said second mat in horizontally spaced overlapping relation tothe upper marginal portions of the slats of said first mentioned mat,and means for supporting the said second mat with its said slats in saidrelationship, the opposedly facing sides of the overlapped portionsbeing flat and substantially parallel and in planes inclined relative tovertical.

2. In a cooling tower having a pair of opposed vertical side walls, atier of mats positioned within said tower between said side walls, guidemembers adjacent the opposed sides of said walls having opposedlyopening parallel grooves, oppositely outwardly projecting means on eachof said mats slidably positioned within said grooves, each of said matsincluding a horizontal row of horizontally spaced relatively thin matelements respectively positioned in vertical planes, and said meansprojecting perpendicularly from the end elements of each row thereof andspaced between the upper and lower edges of said elements, said elementsin each mat being horizontally elongated slats with horizontallyelongated bars extending therethrough and outwardly of the end slats ofeach mat, the said means in said grooves being the projecting ends ofsaid bars.

3.In a cooling tower having a pair of opposed vertical side walls, atier of mats positioned within said tower between said side walls, guidemembers adjacent the opposed sides of said walls having opposedlyopening parallel grooves, oppositely outwardly projecting means on eachof said mats slidably positioned within said grooves, each of said matsincluding a horizontal row of horizontally spaced relatively thin matelements respectively positioned in vertical planes, and said meansprojecting perpendicularly from the end elements of each row thereof andspaced between the upper and lower edges of said elements, said elementsin each mat being horizontally elongated slats with horizontallyelongated bars extending therethrough and outwardly of the end slats ofeach mat, the said means in said grooves being the projecting ends ofsaid bars, said grooves being vertical whereby each mat may be loweredby gravity into said tower, and spacers positioned within said groovesand between the projecting ends of said bars for spacing said mats andfor suspending said mats therefrom.

4. In a cooling tower having a pair of opposed vertical side walls, atier of mats positioned within said tower between said side walls, guidemem-- bers adjacent the opposed sides of said walls having opposedlyopening parallel grooves, oppositely outwardly projecting means on eachof said mats slidably positioned within said grooves, each of said matsincluding a horizontal row of horizontally spaced relatively thin matelements respectively positioned in vertical planes, and said meansprojecting perpendicularly from the end elements of each row thereof andspaced between the upper and lower edges of said elements, said elementsin each mat being horizontally elongated slats with horizontallyelongated bars extending therethrough and outwardly of the end slats ofeach mat, the said means in said grooves being the projecting ends ofsaid bars, said grooves being vertical whereby each mat may be loweredby gravity into said tower, and spacers positioned within said groovesand between the projecting ends of said bars for spacing said mats andfor suspending said mats therefrom, said spacers being blocks disposedone above the other in engagement at their adjoining edges and recessedadjacent the junctures of each adjacent pair for receiving the ends ofsaid bars, whereby the Weight of the upper mat of each adjacentsuperposed pair will be wholly taken by the blocks extending between thebars thereof and the ends of the bars of the mat therebelow.

5. In a cooling tower, a tier of rectangular mats of the same size andshape, each mat comprising a horizontally extending row of equallyspaced slats disposed in side by side relationship, the rows of slats insaid mats being of equal length, means securing the slats of each rowtogether for handling as a unit including bars of equal length extendingthrough the slats of each row at right angles to said slats andlongitudinally of each row, the opposite end portions of the barsextending through each row projecting from the end slats or" the row forsuspending said slats from said opposite end portions, one of thecorresponding end portions of the bars in each row being uniformlylonger than the opposite end portions whereby the slats in adjacentpairs of mats in said tier will be in staggered relationship uponpositioning the mats of said adjacent pairs with the longer end portionsof the bars of one mat of each pair over the shorter end portions of theother mat with the terminating opposite ends of the bars of the matsrespectively coplanar at the two opposite sides of the tier, and guidemeans on said tower for holding said opposite ends coplanar.

6. An induced draft cooling tower having imperforate side walls andincluding a pair of tiers of mats in side by side relationship,horizontally spaced supporting members for said mats, a pair of spacedOpposed, laterally directd air inlets at the bottom of said tower atpoints below said tiers and communicating with the lower ends of thelatter for upward flow of air from said inlets through the mats of saidtiers, a partition below said tiers and between them for directing theair from said inlets upwardly through the mats of the tiers respectivelyadjacent said inlets, said supporting members permittin passage of airfrom either of said tiers to the other during movement of air from saidinlets through said tiers whereby the air from one inlet will minglewith air from the other inlet in said tower above said partition, therespective mats in each of said tiers being elongated, parallel,horizontally extending slats, and the slats in the mats of one tierbeing substantially parallel with the slats in the other tier, and thespace between the adjacent ends of the slats in said tiers being open topermit flow of air from one tier to the other.

EDWARD SIMONS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,399,037 Uhde Dec. 6, 19212,207,272 Simons July 9, 1940 2,239,936 Simons Apr. 29, 1941 NumberNumber

